Google Cloud Platform – Cloud Services To Go One Up Against AWS

Google unveiled its Google Cloud Platform and Google Compute Engine at I/O Conference in San Francisco to take on Microsoft’s Azure and Amazon’s AWS in the cloud platform.

Google said that it has been working on global-scale services for more than fourteen years and launching cloud services is just another step in that direction. Google said that the prime motive behind improvising their cloud services was to open up infrastructure for SMEs and enthusiastic developers.

Google’s new Compute Engine provides a sophisticated, highly powerful environment for running virtual machines. Previously, only those users who had Google Gold support could only access the cloud services. However, Google has scrapped that constraint and opened the infrastructure for everyone. Any user can now access the Google Compute Engine by going to cloud.google.com.

In a glimpse, here’s what the new Google Compute Engine has to offer:

Sub-hour billing: Billing would now be done in small one-minute increments with a ten-minute-minimum rule. That means you have to pay only for the computation minutes you use. No fluffy charges. This makes Google Compute Services economical, especially for start-ups and SMEs.

Shared-core instances for low-intensity workloads.

Advanced Routing Features allow you to create gateways and VPN servers, thereby allowing you to create networks that span across your local network and Google’s Cloud network.

Large persistent disks that support 10 TB per volume, way above the current industry standards.

A new Cloud Datastore service that offers automatic scalability, high availability and allows users to fire queries and maintain indexes just like SQL.

Google’s App Engine (GAE) now supports PHP apps. GAE currently supports languages like Python, Java and Google’s Go. Google, however, included PHP so that developers could integrate open-source programs like WordPress on its cloud platform.

Google weighs the importance of Cloud technology in the current era and the recent modifications give a glimpse of what more is in store. It clearly wants to dethrone AWS, which has a very strong foothold in the cloud realm. Google has the potential of going one up but it’s easier said than done.

Amazon has been providing top-notch services to its existing customers by handling critical workloads and is revered for its top-notch customer support. It’s currently roping in thousands of consulting and technology firms in a major push to expand its cloud business. Big companies might favour Amazon as they have been around for around five years and have experience in dealing with enterprise demands.

Google, perhaps, might have some catching up to do but it is up for the challenge. Google’s director of global sales for the Google Cloud Platform, Daniel Powers, made the following points on Google’s future strategy on improving their services:

Google’s enterprise team, which works on Google Apps, Chrome and Chromebooks, would be handling the sales department.

Google would be participating actively with big players like SAP, Oracle and Microsoft.

Large enterprises would be serviced by Google’s large client unit- the same unit that handles Fortune 500 companies.

Google’s Compute Engine is a threat to AWS and every other cloud service provider. Existing players would have to re-assess their pricing model and would have to provide cost-effective solutions. In these competitive times, when enterprises have demanding data-needs, reliability and performance would also play a crucial factor in deciding which way the balance shifts.

In the longer run, however, it would shift towards the side that balances cost, performance, scalability and reliability.

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